Pet Cats in Australia
9 February, 2023
Cat-lover or not, none of us can escape the devastating impacts feral and roaming cats are having on Australia’s wildlife.
Cat-lover or not, none of us can escape the devastating impacts feral and roaming cats are having on Australia’s wildlife.
The NSW Government must fast-track its review on pest control in Kosciuszko National Park after pausing all shooting operations in the park due to an aerial deer cull last summer.
The release of feral horse removal data for Kosciuszko National Park since February 2022 highlights the need to significantly increase removal efforts to protect one of Australia’s most important national parks.
A few months ago we put out a call. Over 700 people responded, letting Kosci’s parkies know how much we value their work protecting native wildlife from the damage of feral horses.
Does the promise of a zero extinction target in NSW mean native wildlife will get the protection they deserve from the impacts of feral horses?
Our report into the ethical considerations of using 1080 to control feral animals finds conservation benefits necessitate its use until an alternative is available.
A review of Australia’s EPBC Act finds it is failing to address the main threats to nature.
Our work is and always will be about stopping the invasion and spread of hostile weeds, pest animals and diseases that threaten our natural environment. It’s our core business.
The Invasive Species Council welcomes the Victorian Supreme Court’s decision to protect the Alpine National Park from growing horse impacts but is concerned the possibility of further legal action will delay the inevitable.
Those opposed to action on Victoria’s feral horse problem are back in court today, a last ditch effort to delay the inevitable.
A post-bushfire plan to remove feral horses from three areas in Kosciuszko National Park is an important step towards recovery.
New aerial footage and eyewitness accounts from iconic Kosciuszko National Park reveals horrific fire damage and the survival of huge numbers of feral horses now pushing threatened species closer to extinction,
New survey data on the number of feral horses in Kosciuszko National Park has shocked conservationists, scientists, tourism operators and former park managers.
Could a single, desexed cat wipe out an entire colony of breeding fairy terns?
The Victorian government has an opportunity to make huge inroads into the impacts of feral cats, but it can only do so if changes are made to the regulations governing the use of traps in that state.
Cat-lover or not, none of us can escape the devastating impacts feral and roaming cats are having on Australia’s wildlife.
The NSW Government must fast-track its review on pest control in Kosciuszko National Park after pausing all shooting operations in the park due to an aerial deer cull last summer.
The release of feral horse removal data for Kosciuszko National Park since February 2022 highlights the need to significantly increase removal efforts to protect one of Australia’s most important national parks.
A few months ago we put out a call. Over 700 people responded, letting Kosci’s parkies know how much we value their work protecting native wildlife from the damage of feral horses.
Does the promise of a zero extinction target in NSW mean native wildlife will get the protection they deserve from the impacts of feral horses?
Our report into the ethical considerations of using 1080 to control feral animals finds conservation benefits necessitate its use until an alternative is available.
A review of Australia’s EPBC Act finds it is failing to address the main threats to nature.
Our work is and always will be about stopping the invasion and spread of hostile weeds, pest animals and diseases that threaten our natural environment. It’s our core business.
The Invasive Species Council welcomes the Victorian Supreme Court’s decision to protect the Alpine National Park from growing horse impacts but is concerned the possibility of further legal action will delay the inevitable.
Those opposed to action on Victoria’s feral horse problem are back in court today, a last ditch effort to delay the inevitable.
A post-bushfire plan to remove feral horses from three areas in Kosciuszko National Park is an important step towards recovery.
New aerial footage and eyewitness accounts from iconic Kosciuszko National Park reveals horrific fire damage and the survival of huge numbers of feral horses now pushing threatened species closer to extinction,
New survey data on the number of feral horses in Kosciuszko National Park has shocked conservationists, scientists, tourism operators and former park managers.
Could a single, desexed cat wipe out an entire colony of breeding fairy terns?
The Victorian government has an opportunity to make huge inroads into the impacts of feral cats, but it can only do so if changes are made to the regulations governing the use of traps in that state.
Cat-lover or not, none of us can escape the devastating impacts feral and roaming cats are having on Australia’s wildlife.
The NSW Government must fast-track its review on pest control in Kosciuszko National Park after pausing all shooting operations in the park due to an aerial deer cull last summer.
The release of feral horse removal data for Kosciuszko National Park since February 2022 highlights the need to significantly increase removal efforts to protect one of Australia’s most important national parks.
A few months ago we put out a call. Over 700 people responded, letting Kosci’s parkies know how much we value their work protecting native wildlife from the damage of feral horses.
Does the promise of a zero extinction target in NSW mean native wildlife will get the protection they deserve from the impacts of feral horses?
Our report into the ethical considerations of using 1080 to control feral animals finds conservation benefits necessitate its use until an alternative is available.
A review of Australia’s EPBC Act finds it is failing to address the main threats to nature.
Our work is and always will be about stopping the invasion and spread of hostile weeds, pest animals and diseases that threaten our natural environment. It’s our core business.
The Invasive Species Council welcomes the Victorian Supreme Court’s decision to protect the Alpine National Park from growing horse impacts but is concerned the possibility of further legal action will delay the inevitable.
Those opposed to action on Victoria’s feral horse problem are back in court today, a last ditch effort to delay the inevitable.
A post-bushfire plan to remove feral horses from three areas in Kosciuszko National Park is an important step towards recovery.
New aerial footage and eyewitness accounts from iconic Kosciuszko National Park reveals horrific fire damage and the survival of huge numbers of feral horses now pushing threatened species closer to extinction,
New survey data on the number of feral horses in Kosciuszko National Park has shocked conservationists, scientists, tourism operators and former park managers.
Could a single, desexed cat wipe out an entire colony of breeding fairy terns?
The Victorian government has an opportunity to make huge inroads into the impacts of feral cats, but it can only do so if changes are made to the regulations governing the use of traps in that state.
The Invasive Species Council acknowledges the Traditional Custodians throughout Australia and their connections to land and sea. We pay our respect to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today. The Invasive Species Council supports voting ‘YES’ for a Voice to Parliament.
Dear Project Team,
[YOUR PERSONALISED MESSAGE WILL APPEAR HERE.]
I support the amendment to the Kosciuszko National Park Wild Horse Heritage Management Plan to allow our incredible National Parks staff to use aerial shooting as one method to rapidly reduce feral horse numbers. I want to see feral horse numbers urgently reduced in order to save the national park and our native wildlife that live there.
The current approach is not solving the problem. Feral horse numbers have rapidly increased in Kosciuszko National Park to around 18,000, a 30% jump in just the past 2 years. With the population so high, thousands of feral horses need to be removed annually to reduce numbers and stop our National Park becoming a horse paddock. Aerial shooting, undertaken humanely and safely by professionals using standard protocols, is the only way this can happen.
The government’s own management plan for feral horses states that ‘if undertaken in accordance with best practice, aerial shooting can have the lowest negative animal welfare impacts of all lethal control methods’.
This humane and effective practice is already used across Australia to manage hundreds of thousands of feral animals like horses, deer, pigs, and goats.
Trapping and rehoming of feral horses has been used in Kosciuszko National Park for well over a decade but has consistently failed to reduce the population, has delayed meaningful action and is expensive. There are too many feral horses in the Alps and not enough demand for rehoming for it to be relied upon for the reduction of the population.
Fertility control as a management tool is only effective for a small, geographically isolated, and accessible population of feral horses where the management outcome sought is to maintain the population at its current size. It is not a viable option to reduce the large and growing feral horse population in the vast and rugged terrain of Kosciuszko National Park.
Feral horses are trashing and trampling our sensitive alpine ecosystems and streams, causing the decline and extinction of native animals. The federal government’s Threatened Species Scientific Committee has stated that feral horses ‘may be the crucial factor that causes final extinction’ for 12 alpine species.
I recognise the sad reality that urgent and humane measures are necessary to urgently remove the horses or they will destroy the Snowies and the native wildlife that call the mountains home. I support a healthy national park where native species like the Corroboree Frog and Mountain Pygmy Possum can thrive.
Dear Project Team,
[YOUR PERSONALISED MESSAGE WILL APPEAR HERE.]
I support the amendment to the Kosciuszko National Park Wild Horse Heritage Management Plan to allow our incredible National Parks staff to use aerial shooting as one method to rapidly reduce feral horse numbers. I want to see feral horse numbers urgently reduced in order to save the national park and our native wildlife that live there.
The current approach is not solving the problem. Feral horse numbers have rapidly increased in Kosciuszko National Park to around 18,000, a 30% jump in just the past 2 years. With the population so high, thousands of feral horses need to be removed annually to reduce numbers and stop our National Park becoming a horse paddock. Aerial shooting, undertaken humanely and safely by professionals using standard protocols, is the only way this can happen.
The government’s own management plan for feral horses states that ‘if undertaken in accordance with best practice, aerial shooting can have the lowest negative animal welfare impacts of all lethal control methods’.
This humane and effective practice is already used across Australia to manage hundreds of thousands of feral animals like horses, deer, pigs, and goats.
Trapping and rehoming of feral horses has been used in Kosciuszko National Park for well over a decade but has consistently failed to reduce the population, has delayed meaningful action and is expensive. There are too many feral horses in the Alps and not enough demand for rehoming for it to be relied upon for the reduction of the population.
Fertility control as a management tool is only effective for a small, geographically isolated, and accessible population of feral horses where the management outcome sought is to maintain the population at its current size. It is not a viable option to reduce the large and growing feral horse population in the vast and rugged terrain of Kosciuszko National Park.
Feral horses are trashing and trampling our sensitive alpine ecosystems and streams, causing the decline and extinction of native animals. The federal government’s Threatened Species Scientific Committee has stated that feral horses ‘may be the crucial factor that causes final extinction’ for 12 alpine species.
I recognise the sad reality that urgent and humane measures are necessary to urgently remove the horses or they will destroy the Snowies and the native wildlife that call the mountains home. I support a healthy national park where native species like the Corroboree Frog and Mountain Pygmy Possum can thrive.
